Idiot Lighting Question

I know this is a newb question, but Ive only grown with LED's.

Anyway, I'm looking for the best reflector money can buy. How do I know what lights are compatible with what reflector and what ballast?

Someone help me out

really depends on what type of lighting...what are you looking into??

Your better off price wise to buy as a kit. That's said if u piece it together, refence the kit and take note of the watts/hood size and build yours accordingly.

250w hps looking at daystars. I want the best, any suggestions?

absolutely i have suggestions. since ya obviously got the buck to spend on a hid go with a 400w or 600w. they tend to stay cool enough to grow a descent harvest and are pretty intense. also like jamnburn said look for a kit.

Rudy Rudiger said:

250w hps looking at daystars. I want the best, any suggestions?

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Should come with a hood/reflector,socket assembly,ballast,bulb ready to roll. I personally like next gen ballasts. the ones i have are switchable from 400watt to 600watt and mh to hps. Got the whole kit for around $250 at my local hydro shop but have also got some good deals at ebay. Just make sure you grab a sealed reflector/hood. They come with 6in flanges to attach ducting!!

Rudy Rudiger said:

250w hps looking at daystars. I want the best, any suggestions?

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come to think of it i have a daystar ac 600 watt chillin in a 3x3 tent right now ..doy!!. They actually stay really cool . that would be one of my best imho. hope this all helps!!

Ya ya, that's exactly what I was looking at.

I was initially looking at Euro Hood, or Easy Cool 6'. From HTG, everything would be like $220 including a duct fan. I was thinking I could get a better reflector hood though, but wasn't sure if I could mix and match.

Rudy Rudiger said:

250w hps looking at daystars. I want the best, any suggestions?

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Yeah those are great....same style that I have, make sure you get a air cooled hood though you have more options with those. Most lights will fit in all reflectors but I think some of the 1000w bulbs are too long for some. Just do your research and I agree if you have the money for a 250w why not spend an extra couple bucks and get a 400w or a 600w

Wow is tough to get on Roll it up tonight..

Its only 4.5 square feet that Im lighting, so 400W would be a little overkill and would run up my electric bill. Im cheap and stubborn, what can I say? I think 250 is a happy medium.

Anyway, Im having trouble finding an aircooled daystar thats compatible with 250w, theyre all 400 and up. Maybe I should just go with HTG's stuff, as cheap as it may seem. I just want something thats like top of the line, I guess it really doesnt matter though.

if your stubborn your gonna end up getting a bigger place to live to grow with more space!! lol jk no seriously tho

Rudy Rudiger said:

Wow is tough to get on Roll it up tonight..

Its only 4.5 square feet that Im lighting, so 400W would be a little overkill and would run up my electric bill. Im cheap and stubborn, what can I say? I think 250 is a happy medium.

Anyway, Im having trouble finding an aircooled daystar thats compatible with 250w, theyre all 400 and up. Maybe I should just go with HTG's stuff, as cheap as it may seem. I just want something thats like top of the line, I guess it really doesnt matter though.

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Ya probably but you left out the cheap part. A 400W in 4.5 sq ft would be nice though, and I wouldn't have to upgrade down the road.

If I were to go 400, I'd have three problems. First, pulling all that electricity though one outlet, 15A breaker. The only other thing on the circuit is a deep freezer. That would make me nervous, fans, pump, 400w hps, digital ballast, all on one plug. Is that really safe? Im not trying to catch my place on fire.

Second, would be the heat. Would a 6 inch duct fan hooked on to an air cooled hood would be enough. My temps are already a little on the high side, 74-77.

Third, what kind of digital ballast would I need for that daystar reflector? Again I wanna get top of line relector to maximize things. Daystar seems like a good buy and it fits in my room. Will any digital ballast work or is there is some sort of matching?

If you went with a 400w, consider Ceramic Metal Halide. These bulbs closely resemble the spectrum of the Sun. You also get the benefits of both MH& HPS as CMH can be used in both flower and veg. CMH doesn't "throw heat" like HPS and are easier to cool. There are reports accross several forums of CMH outperforming HPS when it comes to potency. These bulbs run off the older magnetic core HPS ballast(NOT DIGITAL) and total cost that I paid for my 400w Ballast, Bulb, and Reflector came to about $320 and I bought top of the line gear. Take a look at the CMH thread here. I'm really surprised more growers don'use CMH. HTG is a good budget source but most of their gear is Chinese knock-offs. As far as electricity is concerned, a 400w uses 4.6 amps and with that freezer on there I'd consider hiring an electrician to run a seperate 20 amp circuit. With 15 amps your playing with fire. With electrical issues I'd lean towards a good CFL set-up(no heat, minimal ectricity, no need to air cool hood) Good luck man, lots of options out there.

Hydrofarm makes good stuff. I have a couple of their Daystar A/C hoods. Great quality and fantastic light coverage. Try to avoid reflectors that have a dimpled surface. A shear polished surface will reflect the light where-as a dimpled one will refract it.

What he said ^^^^^ CMH is the bomb and you can see it in action by clicking my Balls to the wall sig link, links to where I got mine are in the journal it was $262 shipped, there is no better grow light out there!

Thanks, that covers the heat question. What about matching up a ballast? And the whole electricity thing? The breaker should blow before anything crazy happens right? With a digital ballast, it shouldnt pull as much to warm up.

Can you link me to some top of the line reflectors?

Here is the one Im looking at:

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/daystar-ac-reflector.html

First, meh, anything under 1KW through a 120V breaker should be fine. Second, an aircooled hood should do the trick by itself... Though of course you want a fan for ventilation. Temps might be around 80, which despite what you said isn't really that high. My temps are low 70s with a well ventilated, 2'x6'x6' room. Third, you want to look for ballasts FIRST, then reflectors, or get them together. I'm pretty sure there's a standard size for different wattages, but I wouldn't know for sure as I don't use one (I hang my 400w HPS vertically). If you're gettin it at a hydro shop they will help you figure all of it out and make sure it fits, so I wouldn't worry

I realize you want the best equipment and that's always a plus but take a look at the area your illuminating. You didn't give us the dimensions of your grow box. You say you have 4.5 square feet so roughly a 2x2 area. It's such a small area that the difference between a great reflector and one that is sub par is negligible. Sun Leaves makes some good budget ac reflectors starting at $60 bucks. Hydrofarm makes a great product along with Sun Light Supply.

The only place close to me is HTG, but Im trying to avoid China. I really had my mind set on that daystar. Id like to get a digital ballast so I can minimize noise. I would get a 6in duct fact and blow it out of the cab. I think the fan is measure at 250cfm, and I have two axial fans for intake, total 230cfm, 115 a piece.

So I should get a ballast and go from there then. Maybe I'll just go to HTG and get a kit, eventhough their reflectors arent that great.

Here's a link to the ballast I was looking at:

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/order.html

I don't really know much, if anything, about ballasts and HPS. I got caught in an LED marketing scheme. I'll take any advice I can get. I dont see why this ballast wouldnt work with the daystar reflector. I can always get bulbs at HTG right?

Hm, after reading all the options people suggested I'm thinkin maybe you should go for two 150w HIDs. If you're goin for top of the line you should cut CFLs out of the equation because they are pretty inefficient in creating usable light... your yields are gonna be pretty sad unless you get a legit CFL set-up, which would present the same heat and electricity problems as a 400w HID.

No CFL's, no way. I think theyre ridiculous. HID all the way. I was initially looking at 250W, but figured Im gonna upgrade eventually so might as well just go with 400W and do it up. Ive messed with LEDs and realized, you got to buy good shit if you expect to have great buds. Two HIDS wont really fit, atleast not with cooling hoods. Its like a 1.5w by 3L by 5ft H cab.

Now that I look at HTG, they do have the lumantek ballast. Maybe I'll just get a kit from them.

My grow cab is pretty legit though, as far as ventilation and reflective lining. If I wasnt so ashamed of the LEDs Id have pics up now. After harvest this weekend, I will post some pics of the cleaned up grow cab